Friday, December 11, 2015

Raise A Glass To



This is my last blog post of the year and it’s already a day late. I have lots to share with you so grab a Christmas beverage and we’ll start.

This could be the drown your sorrows part of the blog...
Writer Beware has a look at some insidious new clauses making their way into publishing contracts under the guise of being nice.

Anne R Allen’s post on 5 scams targeting writers is being shared all over the web. Read and Beware.

Heather Alexander writes about the frustration of friends referring friends to you because they have book ideas. (We have all experienced this!!)

Melinda Szymanik has an excellent post on Writers Block - and The Write Life has a way you can beat it.

This is the Raise your Glass - Cheers part of the blog!

Joanna Penn has an excellent post on Productivity For Authors. If you are looking for other productivity tips check out these productivity hacks.

China wants to see more English language children’s books. – That’s the takeaway from the  Global Kids Connect conference held this week in New York.

Digital Book World has an excellent post on Amazon and ways that Publishers can use some Amazon tactics.

This is the fill-‘er-up-what-will-they-think-of-next, toast to innovation part of the blog...
Check out the story of this App, where a traditional publisher is harnessing indie authors to deliver novels in serial form, weekly... (you may need another drink to get your head around it.)

Self Publishing and Indie Author Imprints- This is a must read post if you are an indie author.

Refill Your Glass!

In the Craft Section,
11 top articles on Writing Characters- Bookmark! Some of these I’ve linked to before but this is a craft books worth of great writing.

Tips for writing acknowledgements by Julie Musil Bookmark!

Reedsy has an excellent post (and infographic) on Editing (which is what NaNo people should be doing in December.) Bookmark it!

Men with Pens has a great post on how to recognise Passive Voice and get rid of it.


In the Marketing Section,

Sue Coletta – Pinterest for authors- This is an amazing post! I never thought of this way for authors to use Pinterest.  Bookmark!

23 Pinterest tips for authors. (makes more sense after the above post.)

In a Toast to Christmas...
I recently recorded my second podcast with Writers Island where I talked about great gifts for writers. (see sidebar) As Christmas is nearly upon us you might like to check out these amazing gift lists.

To Finish,
Raise a toast to Kristine Rusch ...
In November Kris was on fire with her great business for writers blog posts which I linked to in several blog posts. She has been receiving some push back for her comments about writing what YOU want to write as the key to your career.  This week she replies to the criticism and explores the nature of writer as artist. I think this is an amazing post and one for authors to reflect on as they take their post prandial beverage and contemplate the coming year.

My gift to you – the 12 cocktails of Christmas and the annual Christmas video!

See you in January!

Maureen
@craicer

Pic from Flickr Creative Commons/John Morgan




Thursday, December 3, 2015

Talking Across The Room


This week ahead of the Futurebook conference, a day was organised in London where authors and publishers got together and talked to each other. This is unusual in the book business as generally the dialogue is one sided. If you do a Twitter search on #authorday it will bring up some pithy quotes that were said throughout the day to authors and publishers by authors and publishers. The first report of #authorday is up on The Bookseller – Can we trust each other? It is a must read.

Among the discussions at Author Day was the continued lack of illustrator credit in the book business. Sarah McIntyre has made this a special campaign and after Author Day updated her website to reflect this. Pictures Do Mean Business For Illustrators. Authors need to read this!

Also discussed at Author Day – Assisted Publishing and Agents as Publishers. Jane Friedman has an interview with an agent that does this... Is it ethical?

The Author Earnings team of Hugh Howey and Data Guy have turned their sights on Amazon UK. Are the results the same as the US? Some interesting takeaways here... especially for global bestsellers.

Roz Morris has been taking a close look at pseudonyms especially in this digital world where a Google search can haul up stuff you may not want associated with your pseudonym.

21 ways to turn your book into a business - this is great advice for Non Fiction writers.

If you are juggling a writing life with full time work you need to read Darcy Pattison’s excellent blog post on ways to make your life a little easier along with the 10 must have qualities for the Indie author.

In the Craft Section,


7 easy ways to research – K M Weiland



The biggest problem in beginnings - Agent Sarah Davies

In the Marketing Section,





To Finish,
I will wrap up the year next week... in the mean time if you have a project ready to go Pit Mad will be taking over Twitter on December 4th (US time.) Have fun!

Maureen
@craicer




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